Second place belongs to La Cañada boys’ tennis
LA CAÑADA — For a sixth consecutive season, the La Cañada High boys’ tennis team clinched second place in the Rio Hondo League.
The Spartans made sure of that Tuesday afternoon when they defeated visiting Temple City, 13-5, in the regular season finale.
With the win, La Cañada (10-3, 6-2 in league) accepts another slightly bittersweet runner-up finish in league after a sweep of the Rams (8-6, 4-4).
While his team was fresh off a victory during a busy week, Spartans coach Will Moravec couldn’t help but think of his team’s two league losses by 10-8 scores to archrival and league champion San Marino.
“I would say I’m a tad down because we thought, and it wasn’t going to be easy, that we’d have a chance to break the San Marino winning streak,” Moravec said. “It didn’t happen, but you know San Marino is really good. To beat a champion, you have to go through the champion and it didn’t happen. I think we’re still a good team and we’ll see how it goes.”
The Spartans dispatched the Rams, 13-5, the first time the teams met in Temple City on April 6 and won again by the same score.
La Cañada improved its singles play with eight victories in nine sets in Tuesday’s action, versus six the first time around.
Spartans No. 2 singles player Alec Robertson led his team with a 3-0 record that consisted of wins of 7-6, 6-1 and 6-2.
Robertson’s most contentious action came in the opener as the junior took a 5-1 advantage over Temple City’s Matthew Lee, only to see Lee battle back and nearly steal a win.
“The first match was a little tough, but I let up and let [Lee] get to me,” Robertson said. “But after that 7-6 win I played pretty solid in the last two matches and I’m pretty happy with that.”
Spartans No. 1 player Ryan Morgan finished 2-0 and was subbed out before the third set by Kyle Sahara, who suffered a 6-4 setback to Lee.
La Cañada’s Reid Schreck also posted a 2-0 mark and was replaced by Cyrus Chen, who picked up his team’s final singles victory, 6-4.
On the doubles side, the Spartans finished 5-4 with the brother duo of Gabriel and Gerard Llanes finishing 2-1.
JP McKenzie and John Moore earned a 7-6 win, while McKenzie and Jack Manion won, 6-3, and Jared and Derek Ahn turned in a 6-3 triumph.
In terms of match pacing, the Spartans blew open a tie at 3 after six sets with a 5-1 second round to take a huge 8-4 lead going into the final six sets. La Cañada won five of the last six sets.
Up next for a few Spartans is the Ojai Tournament, which begins Thursday. Singles player McKenzie will take part as well as twin brothers Ian and Nick Lee. Morgan will also compete unattached in the 16-year-old division.
La Cañada returns to league action May 2 at the league preliminaries at Temple City’s Live Oak Park at noon. Rio Hondo League finals follow on Thursday.
Twitter: @campadresports
